A Pretty Picture for Sunday - A Flower Beetle on a Thistle

This is a picture I took last weekend whilst out on a walk.  Over the past few weeks I have been doing an applique of a thistle - more about that later - so I took this picture to remind myself of what they look like in real life.  The beetle just happened to be there, which was good of him, and he was happy to pose while I fooled around dangling the lens cap dangerously close to his antennae.  A quick bit of research on the internet revealed that he is a flower beetle and feeds on pollen, which explains why he was able to ignore me while he concentrated on lunch.  All that pollen plainly goes straight to his thighs.